SEO techniques

SEO (search engine optimization) is one of the today’s most popular Internet marketing technique used in the industry. It mainly uses the capability of search engines to bring traffic to a website. And because search engines are heavily used by users, as a means for searching information across the World Wide Web (WWW), SEO quickly became a very powerful Internet marketing technique.

SEO techniques

According to a number of experts, such as those from SEO Philippines companies, SEO is very similar to that of SEM (search engine marketing), in terms of approach, which is the one-to-one approach, a technique popularly used for search engines. One misunderstanding between SEO and SEM is that SEO is not a type of SEM. SEO is a separate technique which is known to use a number of techniques and methods of its own.

The difference of SEO from SEM is its techniques. SEM mainly makes use of paid inclusion, such as PPC, while SEO makes use of natural and un-paid techniques and methods. However, compared to SEM, SEO involves many techniques and methods. These techniques and methods are then categorized between two different techniques, the on-page SEO which deals with techniques used in the website itself, and off-page SEO which involves techniques used outside the website.

On-page and off-page SEO

Techniques in SEO are categorized based on the nature of its method. On-page SEO are techniques which are used to make a website more search engine friendly. However, according to many SEO experts, the use of on-page SEO have significantly lost its effectiveness due to the number of techniques used to abuse the search engine result pages or SERPs.

Though it significantly lost its effectiveness, many SEO experts still use these techniques and methods not only to make their websites more “search engine friendly”, but also more “user-friendly”.

Techniques in on-page SEO

On-page SEO techniques involve:

Content optimization: Content, meaning the image as well as its text content. This is where the bulk of on-page SEO is popularly used. Many of the researched keywords are found in the content, as well as the file name used for images.

Meta Tag and alt tag optimization: The use of Meta tags and Alt tags became very popular in on-page SEO. Other than in the content as well as file names for the images, meta tags and alt tags are used as additional places for keywords.

URL optimization: Optimizing the URL is also very important. According to many experts, URL are also used to contain keywords that clearly defines a page. It both works for the users and search engine crawlers.

Cross-linking: A very important part of on-page SEO. Though some of its techniques have lost its effectiveness, crosslinking and URL optimization are still a very important part of on-page SEO. Crosslinking examples include sitemaps as well as navigation bars. Other than allowing their users easy access to their website, it also allowed search engine crawlers to easily navigate through the website.

Popular SEO tool for on-page SEO

One software used by SEO experts and professionals in on-page SEO are content management systems or CMS. These online applications became popular among many SEO experts because it allowed them to optimize a website without asking for assistance with web professionals such as designers and developers.

According to many Web design Philippines experts, CMS softwares such as Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla!, were designed to allow users with little knowledge of programming languages or markup languages to create and manage content with relative ease. Because of this, SEO experts can freely optimize a website for search engines.

Off-page SEO and techniques

According to many SEO Philippines experts, off-page factors are considered as the most important part of SEO for it doesn’t only increases the chances for a website to be indexed by search engines at the first, but to also make their website more visible across the Internet. However, compared to on-page SEO, off-page factors only involves one method with multiple techniques. This is link building.

Link building is a technique widely used in off-page SEO. Its popularity is based on its number of techniques, which are used to naturally induce results in search engines compared to SEM. Link building techniques involve the use of:

Reciprocal linking: The first technique used in SEO, it involves creating mutual link between two objects, commonly between two websites to ensure mutual traffic. This technique, however, is now widely replaced by one-way linking.

Three-way linking: A technique which have grown from reciprocal linking. This involves a link building to create more “natural” links in the eyes of search engines. The value of links by three-way linking can then be better than normal reciprocal links.

One-way linking: The most widely used technique in SEO, it involves a number of methods and techniques which results in one-way links. According to a number of experts, this type of link would be considered more natural in the eyes of search engines. Part of its techniques include:

Blog comments: Blog comments are popular ways to get one-way links from other websites such as blogs. Other than blogs, other websites that allows comments from visitors may also be used to get one-way links.

Forum signatures: Forum signatures involve he process of using forum communities that allow outbound hyperlinks in their member’s signature. This can be a fast method to build up inbound links to a website; it can also produce some targeted traffic if the website is relevant to the forum topic.

Link bait: One of the most powerful link building technique used SEO, it involves any content or feature within a website that somehow baits viewers to place links to it from other websites.

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Margarette Mcbride is a copywriter of Optimind Web Design and SEO, a web design and seo company in the Philippines. Optimind specializes in building and promoting websites that are designed for conversion.